Cultural & Social

'Insightful and breathtaking.' Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens'Bold and sweeping.' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads'Profoundly thought-provoking.' Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut EconomicsHow our evolved psychology has shaped the past,...

WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE, JULY 2020How proteins, machine learning and molecular chemistry can teach us about the complexities of human behaviour and the world around usHow do we understand the people around us?...

Taste is recognized as one of the most evocative senses. The flavors of food play an important role in identity, memory, emotion, desire, and aversion, as well as social, religious and other occasions. Yet despite its fundamental role, taste is often...

Peter Nasmyth has lived in and travelled extensively throughout Georgia for the last 32 years. Georgia in the Mountains of Poetry is his fascinating account of this historically rich and drama loving country, based on his travels and hundreds of...

Is cleanliness next to godliness? What does such a concept really mean? Why does it recur as a universal theme across all societies? And what are the implications for the unclean? In Purity and Danger Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a...

Drawn from more than two decades of pathbreaking writing, the iconic and bestselling David Graeber's most important essays and interviews.'The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make...

2024 Jon Gjerde Prize Winner for best book in Midwestern History After the War of 1812 and the removal of the region's Indigenous peoples, the American Midwest became a paradoxical land for settlers. Even as many settlers found that the region provided...

London is often called the best place in the world to eat - a city where a new landmark restaurant opens each day, where vertiginous towers, sprawling food halls and central neighbourhoods contain the cuisines of every country in the world. Yet, this...

Acknowledged as a masterpiece of materialist criticism, this book delves into the complex ways economic reality shapes the imagination. Surveying two hundred years of history and English literature - from George Eliot to George Orwell - Williams provides...

Psycho-active plants have been used for centuries by cultures in search of transcendence, relaxation, relief from pain, and countless other panaceas. Herbal Highs surveys herbs, cacti, and mushrooms with psycho-active properties Covering dosage, methods...

Rethink your view of the world with The Teachings of Don Juan, the first book in Carlos Castaneda's spiritual journey into the world of sorcery... The Teachings of don Juan is the story of Carlos Castaneda's extraordinary experiences. In 1960 Carlos...

Starting with the dawn of what we would recognise as modern human thought, this book journeys through 35,000 years of our human past. It shows how our earliest ancestors learnt to enter trance states and the revolutionary effect this had on the way they...

Don't just see the sights get to know the people. India's huge population of 1.2 billion is as varied and colorful as the spice markets of Old Delhi. Each region, caste, and community has its own culture, reflecting unique histories shaped by...

Envy, irritation, paranoia-in contrast to powerful and dynamic negative emotions like anger, these non-cathartic states of feeling are associated with situations in which action is blocked or suspended. In her examination of the cultural forms to which...

Autobiography, philosophical inquiry, confession-The Traitor is an unclassifiable and unforgettable book from one of France's most inspiring social critics. Written when Andre Gorz was 32 and rising to prominence in the Parisian existentialist milieu,...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. When is the "beautiful game" at its most beautiful? How does football function as a lens through which so many view their daily lives? What's...

WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A spectacular, definitive portrait of ordinary life within one of the world's most repressive states - North Korea. 'A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea'...

WINNER OF THE FORTNUM AND MASON FOOD BOOK AWARDLONGLISTED FOR THE ANDRE SIMON AWARD'A brilliant, passionate and spellbinding tour de force' Claudia RodenThe epic tale of the world's most sophisticated gastronomic culture, told through a banquet of thirty...

To reduce risk of pandemics for ourselves, our gaze needs to turn to the health of animals. Discover Jonathan Safran Foer's eye-opening and life-changing account of the meat we eat.'Should be compulsory reading. A genuine masterwork. Read this book. It...

Why was the topic of women and reading so controversial for the Victorians and Edwardians? What was it assumed that women read, and what advice was given about where, when, and how to read? Kate Flint examines texts ranging from fiction, painting, and...

If you're intrigued by the question "What makes us human?", strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of anthropology From the first steps of our prehistoric ancestors, to the development of complex languages, to the intricacies of religions...

You're not imagining it. People are getting ruder. And this is a serious problem.The book that inspired the iTunes Top Ten podcast Did you know that even one rude comment in a life and death situation can decrease a surgeon's performance by as much as...

A dramatic new interpretation of the encounter between Europe and the Americas that reveals the crucial role of animals in the shaping of the modern world.When the men and women of the island of Guanahani first made contact with Christopher Columbus and...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A mind-expanding tour of the world without leaving your paintbox. Every colour has a story, and here are some of the most alluring, alarming, and thought-provoking. Very hard painting the hallway magnolia after this inspiring...

The 'fatal charm of Italy' has held Lord Byron - and millions of tourists ever since - in its spell. Yet, beneath 'the brilliant and vivacious surface', what are the realities of Italian life? Few writers have ever painted a portrait of their compatriots...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780714508795Author Ivan IllichFormat PaperbackPage Count 116Imprint Marion Boyars Publishers LtdPublisher Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd

In the late 1950s, Random House editor Jason Epstein would talk jazz with Ralph Ellison or chat with Andy Warhol while pouring drinks in his office. By the 1970s, editors were poring over profit-and-loss statements. The electronics company RCA bought...

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of...

In Cattle Lords and Clansmen, Nerys Patterson provides an analysis of the social structure of medieval Ireland, focusing on the pre-Norman period. By combining difficult, often fragmentary primary sources with sociological and anthropological methods,...

Clement Greenberg is widely recognized as the most influential and articulate champion of modernism during its American ascendency after World War II, the period largely covered by these highly acclaimed volumes of _The Collected Essays and Criticism_...

Don't just see the sights get to know the people. Set aside your preconceptions of postcard scenery, chocolate and cheese, faceless bankers, and spotless cities. The real Switzerland is anything but bland. This small, multilingual, and fiercely...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780553345728Author Fritjof CapraFormat PaperbackPage Count 464Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing GroupPublisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group...

The perfect starting point for any student new to this fascinating subject, offering a serious yet accessible introduction to anthropology. Across a series of fourteen chapters, Introducing Anthropology addresses the different fields and approaches...

Things matter. So why are we losing touch with them? From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York comes a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. In this delightful exploration...

'Lucid, poetic and fascinating' ALICE ROBERTS'Engaging, authoritative and full of fascinating stories of the past' RAY MEARS'A gentle, personal and very readable book' JULIA BLACKBURN AUTHOR OF TIME SONG'A triumph!' JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR OF THE OAK...

A favourite with both students and lecturers, How to Do Media and Cultural Studies provides readers with all the knowledge and practical expertise they need to carry out their project or dissertation. Giving them hands-on guidance on managing the whole...

For more than a century, the study of hunting and gathering societies has been central to the development of both archaeology and anthropology as academic disciplines, and has also generated widespread public interest and debate. The Oxford Handbook of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780593317648Author Emily WittFormat HardbackPage Count 272Imprint PantheonPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 408gDimensions(mm) 216mm * 147mm * 28mm

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781915798787Author Ash BhardwajFormat HardbackPage Count 272Imprint Bedford Square PublishersPublisher Bedford Square Publishers

This is a comprehensive history of a legendarily proud and passionate but lonely people. Much of Europe once knew them as 'child-devouring cannibals' and 'bloodthirsty Huns', but it was not long before the Hungarians became steadfast defenders of...